Surgical Site Infection Prevention   

Surgical Site Infection Prevention for hips and knee joint replacement surgeries
Beginning April 30, 2009, all Ontario hospitals that perform hip and knee joint replacement surgeries will publicly report their Surgical Site Infection (SSI) prevention percentage on their website each quarter (every three months). The Lake of the Woods District Hospital does not perform hip joint replacement surgeries and therefore will report on knee joint replacement surgeries when they are performed.

The goal is to ensure that one of the most important steps in preventing SSIs is being done and that is ensuring that antibiotics are administered at a certain time just before a hip or knee joint replacement surgery. Studies have shown that antibiotic administration just before a joint replacement is a good way to reduce the chance of infection.
 

The Lake of the Woods District Hospital has a number of practices in place to help prevent surgical site infections, including administering antibiotics to patients at a certain time before their surgery. All Ontario hospitals that perform hip and knee joint replacement surgeries are required to post quarterly SSI-Prevention percentages to further promote accountability and transparency within the health system using the following formula:  

We at The Lake of the Woods District Hospital report on the # of knee joint replacements surgeries. We do not do hip replacements.  

What are health care-associated infections?
Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. These are called health care-associated infections.   

What is a Surgical Site Infection?
A surgical site infection (SSI) occurs at the site of a surgical incision. Germs can get into the incision area, and cause an infection. It can develop within 30 days of an operation, or sometimes even up to one year if an implant (such as a knee or hip joint implant) is used.   

Infections can be minor, or occasionally they can increase complications that result in a longer length of stay in the hospital, or an increased readmission rate for patients.  Post-operative surgical site infections are the most common health care-associated infections in surgical patients.  

What can patients do to help reduce their chances of infection?
Follow the pre-operation instructions given to you by your surgeon and health care team.  

Frequent hand cleaning is another way to prevent the spread of infection.

 Hand hygiene involves everyone in the hospital, including patients.  

More patient-specific information is available at www.ontario.ca/patientsafety and www.oha.com/patientsafetytips and www.oha.com/cleanhandsprotectlives.